Bulgaria men's national volleyball team

Bulgaria
Association	Bulgarian Volleyball Federation
Confederation	CEV
Head coach	Silvano Prandi
FIVB ranking	21 (as of November 26, 2021)
Uniforms
Summer Olympics
Appearances	8 (First in 1964)
Best result	(1980)
World Championship
Appearances	18 (First in 1949)
Best result	(1970)
World Cup
Appearances	4 (First in 1965)
Best result	(2007)
European Championship
Appearances	28 (First in 1950)
Best result	(1951)
	www.volleyball.bg (in Bulgarian)
Medal record
Olympic Games
World Championship
World Cup
European Championship
European Games

The Bulgaria National Team in 2014

Bulgaria Defeating Powerful Rivals Serbia in 2011

The Bulgaria National Team at the 2011 FIVB World League Defeating Asian Giants Japan

Bulgaria and Serbia Match in 2014

The Bulgaria men's national volleyball team is controlled by the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, which represents the country in international competitions and friendly matches.

History[]

The team's achievements include winning the Balkan Championships in 1980, Runners-Up (1970) and Third Place (1949, 1952, 1986, 2006) at the World Championship. At the European Championships Bulgaria has one Runners-Up (1951) and four Third Place (1955, 1981, 1983, 2009) finishes. Bulgaria has also achieved Runners-Up at the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. The team has one third place at the World Cup (2007) and five Semi-Final appearances in the World League (1994, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2013). The team's most significant recent results include earning Third Place at the 2006 World Championship, the 2007 World Cup and 2009 European Championship as well as achieving Runners-Up at the first European Games in 2015.

Bulgaria first took part in the World League in 1994. During the debut season in the tournament, the team went all the way to the Semi-Finals; led by players like Lubo Ganev, Dimo Tonev, Martin Stoev, etc. In the next four editions, Bulgaria took part but did not manage to surpass its prior performance by reaching fifth in 1995, eight in 1996, sixth in 1997, and seventh in 1998. Under the guidance of Milorad Kijac, the new wave of players including Teodor Salparov, Danial Mihaylov, etc. mixed well with the more experienced Evgeni Ivanov, Plamen Konstantinov, Nikolay Ivanov, Vladimir Nikolov, Hristo Tsvetanov to result in the fifth-place rank in 2003. The next year, once again under Kijac, the team played some impressive games and succeeded to tie its best performance of reaching the Semi-Finals. The team included more players from the Under-21 team that the previous year won a medal at the World Championships, such as Matey Kaziyski and Milushev. In 2005 with a new coach, Martin Stoev, the team finished as the fifth rank, followed by another tied best-ever performance of reaching the Semi-Finals in 2006, and another fifth rank in 2007. In 2011 Bulgaria qualified for first time in the Final Round after four years, they finished as the fifth rank. The 2012 Final Round was held in the newly opened Armeets Arena in Sofia, and the host reached the Semi-Finals once again.

Statistics[]

Olympic Games[]

1972 Munich — 4th place
1980 Moscow — Silver medal
Gunchev, Stoyanov, Zlatanov, Dimitrov, Tsanov, Dimitrov, Petkov, Todorov, Simeonov, Valtchev, Iliev, Angelov.
2012 London — 4th place
G. Bratoev, Skrimov, Dimitrov, V. Bratoev, V. Nikolov (C), Yosifov, Salparov, Todorov, Aleksiev, Penchev, N. Nikolov, Sokolov. Head coach: Naydenov

World Championship[]

1949 Czechoslovakia — Bronze medal
1952 Soviet Union — Bronze medal
1962 Soviet Union — 4th place
1970 Bulgaria — Silver medal
1986 France — Bronze medal
2006 Japan — Bronze medal
2010 Italy — 7th place
2014 Poland — 13th place
2018 Italy/Bulgaria — 11th place

World Cup[]

1969 East Germany — 4th place
2007 Japan — Bronze medal

European Championship[]

1950 Bulgaria — 4th place
1951 France — Silver medal
1955 Romania — Bronze medal
1958 Czechoslovakia — 4th place
1963 Romania — 4th place
1981 Bulgaria — Bronze medal
1983 East Germany — Bronze medal
1995 Greece — 4th place
2009 Turkey — Bronze medal
2011 Austria/Czech Republic — 6th place
2013 Denmark/Poland — 4th place
2015 Bulgaria/Italy — 4th place
2017 Poland — 6th place
2019 France/Slovenia/Belgium/Netherlands — 11th place
2021 Poland/Czech Republic/Estonia/Finland — 11th place

World League[]

1994 — 4th place
1995 — 5th place
1996 — 8th place
1997 — 6th place
1998 Milan — 7th place
2003 Madrid — 5th place
2004 Rome — 4th place
2005 Belgrade — 5th place
2006 Moscow — 4th place
2007 Katowice — 5th place
2008 Rio de Janeiro — 7th place
2009 Belgrade — 10th place
2010 Córdoba — 7th place
2011 Gdańsk — 5th place
2012 Sofia — 4th place
2013 Mar del Plata — 4th place
2014 Florence — 8th place
2015 Rio de Janeiro — 10th place
2016 Kraków — 11th place
2017 Curitiba — 9th place

Nations League[]

2018 Lille — 11th place
2019 Chicago — 12th place
2021 Rimini — 15th place

European Games[]

2015 Baku — Silver medal

Universiade[]

1961 Sofia — Silver medal
1977 Sofia — Gold medal

Team[]

Current squad[]

The following is the Bulgaria roster in the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League.^[1]

Head coach: Silvano Prandi

No.	Name	Position	Date of birth	Height	Weight	Spike	Block	2020–21 club
1		OH	28 September 2002	2.02 m (6 ft 8 in)	84 kg (185 lb)	330 cm (130 in)	320 cm (130 in)	Neftochimic 2010
2		MB	26 July 1995	2.05 m (6 ft 9 in)
3		MB	16 December 1997	2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)	92 kg (203 lb)	360 cm (140 in)	335 cm (132 in)	Neftochimic 2010
4	Martin Atanasov	OH	27 September 1997	2.02 m (6 ft 8 in)	90 kg (200 lb)	369 cm (145 in)	355 cm (140 in)	Ziraat Bankası Ankara
6		S	9 August 1996	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	80 kg (180 lb)	325 cm (128 in)	320 cm (130 in)	Levski Sofia
9	Georgi Seganov	S	10 June 1993	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)	83 kg (183 lb)	340 cm (130 in)	325 cm (128 in)	Top Volley Latina
10		S	6 August 1996	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)	80 kg (180 lb)			Marek Union-Ivkoni
11		MB	28 March 1998	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	93 kg (205 lb)	371 cm (146 in)	349 cm (137 in)	Vero Volley Monza
12		OH	18 August 1999	1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)	77 kg (170 lb)	345 cm (136 in)	325 cm (128 in)	Chaumont Volley-Ball 52
14		OH	28 July 2000	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)	87 kg (192 lb)	345 cm (136 in)	330 cm (130 in)	BluVolley Verona
15		OH	11 April 1997	1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)	90 kg (200 lb)	344 cm (135 in)	324 cm (128 in)	Levski Sofia
16	Vladislav Ivanov	L	14 March 1987	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	80 kg (180 lb)	320 cm (130 in)	310 cm (120 in)	Levski Sofia
19	Tsvetan Sokolov	Opp	31 December 1989	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	100 kg (220 lb)	370 cm (150 in)	350 cm (140 in)	Dynamo Moscow
22		MB	20 September 1995	2.02 m (6 ft 8 in)	98 kg (216 lb)	349 cm (137 in)	330 cm (130 in)
24		L	4 February 1992	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)	78 kg (172 lb)	320 cm (130 in)	310 cm (120 in)	Neftochimic 2010
25		Opp	19 June 1997	2.05 m (6 ft 9 in)	87 kg (192 lb)	346 cm (136 in)	327 cm (129 in)	Vojvodina Novi Sad
26		OH	10 July 2000	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)	76 kg (168 lb)			Marek Union-Ivkoni

Tsvetan Sokolov missed out on the first 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League and the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship as he went on a knee surgery.^[2]^[3] However, he had recovered and participated in his club tournaments.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Head coaches[]

1949–1950 – Valentin Ankov 1951–1952 – Dimitar Elenkov 1952–1955 – Georgi Krastev 1957–1958 – Dimitar Elenkov 1964–1971 – Dimitar Gigov 1971–1972 – Todor Simov 1979–1980 – Todor Piperkov 1980–1982 – Tsvetan Pavlov 1982–1983 – Vasil Simov 1984–1986 – Bogdan Kjuchukov 1991–1992 – Georgi Vasilev 1992–1994 – Georgi Stoev 1994–1994 – Brunko Iliev 1994–1996 – Bogdan Kjuchukov 1996–1997 – Stefan Sokolov 1998–1999 – 1999–2000 – Brunko Iliev 2000–2002 – Hristo Iliev 2002–2003 – 2003–2004 – Milorad Kijac 2004–2005 – Brunko Iliev 2005–2008 – Martin Stoev 2009–2010 – Silvano Prandi 2010–2012 – Radostin Stoychev 2012–2012 – Nayden Naydenov 2012–2014 – 2014–2019 – Plamen Konstantinov 2019–present – Silvano Prandi

Kit providers[]

The table below shows the history of kit providers for the Bulgaria national volleyball team.

Period	Kit provider
2002–2019	Asics
2019–	Erreà

Sponsorship[]

The main sponsor of the national team is the Bulgarian betting company , while Asics, Mikasa and Lidl are secondary sponsors.^[7]

References[]

External links[]

[1] "Team Roster - Bulgaria - FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2021". volleyballworld.com. Retrieved 29 April 2021.

[2] ttps://volleymob.com/tsvetan-solokov-underwent-knee-surgery-on-june-4-2018/

[3] ttps://volleymob.com/lubes-tsvetan-sokolov-sit-next-20-days-injury/

[4] ttps://www.flovolleyball.tv/articles/6274625-semifinalists-determined-reigning-champ-gone-at-world-club-championships

[5] ttps://www.flovolleyball.tv/articles/6276940-trentino-wins-fifth-fivb-world-club-gold-medal

[6] ttps://volleymob.com/sokolov-is-back-training-with-lube-video/

[7] ttp://www.volleyball.bg/

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v t
Bulgarian Volleyball Federation
National teams	Men U21 U19 Women U23 U20 U18
League Competitions	Bulgarian Volleyball League Bulgarian Women's Volleyball League
Cup Competitions
Others	Bulgarian volleyball players Bulgarian Beach volleyball players Bulgarian coaches Bulgarian clubs

v t Men's national volleyball teams of Europe (CEV)
Active	Albania Andorra Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Great Britain England Northern Ireland Wales Greece Hungary Israel Italy Latvia Lithuania Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Poland Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine
Defunct	Czechoslovakia East Germany Serbia and Montenegro Soviet Union Yugoslavia